Valley Homes v Ace Minerals Corp Essay Example

Valley Homes v Ace Minerals Corp Essay Jones is a young, recently hired female salesperson working for Valley Homes, a small company manufacturing and selling prefabricated dwellings. They sell primarily to people wanting to build their own cabins and summer homes. Jones job consists in working out the designs with the customers, pricing that design, and then working out the specifics with the engineering section, which develops plans and sets out the exact specifications for the production of the dwelling. She then follows up with the customer, even providing a contractor to build the dwelling if needed. A large mining company, Ace Minerals Corporation, as part of the development of a huge mineral deposit in northern Manitoba had to build a townsite for the miners and their families consisting of some 50 dwellings as well as a sports and recreation complex. Under the supervision of the vice-president of finance, Li, Ace Minerals published a request for tenders for the supply and erection of these 50 homes and recreation centre. Upon request Ace provided the specifications and the other details of the tendering process, including a statement that 1) once submitted the bid could not be withdrawn before the formal opening of all the bids (2) the lowest bid would be accepted, following the standard practice in the industry. Jones obtained these details and brought them to the attention of the Valley Homes executive arguing that the company had to change their method of doing business from just servicing the residential retail market and get more into the growing industrial sector. This was consistent with conversations that had recently taken place between the president of the company and major shareholders and so it was decided to submit a bid on the Ace Minerals project. We will write a custom essay sample on Valley Homes v Ace Minerals Corp specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Valley Homes v Ace Minerals Corp specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Valley Homes v Ace Minerals Corp specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Jones and Brundel, the sales manager, were designated as the team to develop Valley Homes bid. They worked for several days, enlisting the help of the engineering department completing and submitting the bid on the day specified by Ace. That evening Jones was reviewing the bid and to her horror discovered a significant error in the calculations prepared by Brundel, the sales manager. Jones quickly redid the calculations and found to her added horror that instead of making a 15 percent profit on the deal they would suffer a 20 percent loss. On such a huge order this could be enough to bankrupt the company. On further examination it became clear that Brundel had intentionally structured the error and cleverly hid it in a way that made it very difficult to find. It was only by chance that Jones had discovered the error at all. It was later learned that Brundel as sales manager felt threatened by this business brought in by the upstart Jones and set out to sabotage the project to make sure things stayed the way they were. He felt that when the deal lost money, Jones would be blamed and he could then get rid of Jones with the blessing of the president. Jones brought the miscalculations and conduct of Brundel to the attention of the resident of the company. The president called Brundel into the office, confronted him with what he had done and it was at this point that Brundel broke down, confessed his misconduct and explained that because of his age he felt threatened by Jones and worried that he would lose his position to her. The president fired Brundel outright, and then went to the offices of the mining company. He met with the vice-president of finance, Li, and presented him with a letter explaining the mistake and in a formal way revoking the bid that had been submitted the day before. Although the bids had not yet been opened, Li declared that even though he was very sympathetic to the problems of Valley Homes, he could not interfere with the integrity of the bidding process once the bid had been accepted by the company for consideration. He said that they would simply have to wait until that afternoon when the bids would be opened to determine their fate. When the bids were opened, not surprisingly, Valley Homes was the lowest bidder and their bid was then automatically accepted by Ace. The next day the president of Valley Homes and Jones met a management team of Ace headed by Li, where the problem was discussed. The Ace group confirmed their position but did indicate an understanding of the difficult position that Valley Homes found themselves in. They also pointed out that they realized that it was not in their interests to see Valley Homes fail and not be able to finish the job. They therefore agreed that if the project was satisfactorily completed on time, a bonus of would be paid to Valley Homes of half the difference between their price and the next lowest bid. This would allow Valley Homes to do just a little better than break even on the job, thus avoiding bankruptcy. It was also understood that there would likely be future dealings between these two companies and because of the good relations created in this meeting Valley Homes would give Ace Minerals an especially good deal on the next project. As the project proceeded, a series of payments were made to Valley Homes, all 59 days after the date specified in the contract. As is normally the case with these kinds of projects, there was a clause in the contract whereby Ace would not have to pay interest on any late payments so long as payment was received by Valley within 60 days of the day payable. Eventually the project was finished on time to the satisfaction of all parties, but the bonus was not paid. Valley Homes waited the specified 60 days and when the bonus was still not paid, they went to Lis office for an explanation. They learned at this time that Li had been replaced and they were invited to meet with the new vice-president of finance, Mr. Grey. He explained that over the months Ace had carefully monitored the project and the health of Valley Homes and had decided that they were in better financial shape than either party had anticipated. Bankruptcy was not a threat and therefore the mining company had decided not to pay the bonus. Mr. Grey went on to explain that they were entirely satisfied with the work that had been done and that Valley Homes should in no way take this failure to pay the bonus as an indication of dissatisfaction on their part with the company, the personnel, or the quality or timeliness of the work performed. In fact Greys final comment was that he hoped that the two companies would have many years of cooperative ventures in the future. Discuss the options available to Valley Homes in these circumstances. There is great uncertainty about what the present Anglo-Canadian law of mistake is. No two authors agree in their analysis and the same confusion exists in the case law. Reputable scholars often disagree about the interpretation of the same case. (Report on Amendment of the Law of Contract, at 252) In our case, Valley Homes v. Ace Minerals Corp. , we identified several legal issues that Valley Homes, a small manufacturing and selling prefabricated dwellings company, encountered from the moment they decided to submit a bid on the Ace Minerals project.

Types of Suffixes in English Grammar

Types of Suffixes in English Grammar In English grammar, a suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word or root (i.e., a base form), serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending. The word suffix comes from the Latin, to fasten underneath.  The adjective form is suffixal. There are two primary types of suffixes in English: Derivational suffix (such as the addition of -ly to an adjective to form an adverb) indicates what type of word it is.Inflectional suffix (such as the addition of -s to a noun to form a plural) tells something about the words grammatical behavior. Discover what famous writers, linguists, and other notable people have had to say about suffixes throughout history. Examples and Observations of Suffixes in English It is often possible to tell the era of a products development by its termination. Thus products dating from the 1920s and early 1930s often end in -ex (Pyrex, Cutex, Kleenex, Windex), while those ending in -master (Mixmaster, Toastmaster) generally betray a late-1930s or early-1940s genesis. (Bill Bryson, Made in America. Harper, 1994) Suffixes display all kinds of relationships between form, meaning, and function. Some are rare and have only vague meanings, as with the -een in velveteen. Some have just enough uses to suggest a meaning, as with -iff in bailiff, plaintiff, suggesting someone involved with law. (Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992) In English, only three colours become verbs by adding -en: blacken, redden, whiten. (Margaret Visser, The Way We Are. HarperCollins, 1994) The number of suffixes in Modern English is so great, and the forms of several, especially in words derived through the French from Latin, are so variable that an attempt to exhibit them all would tend to confusion. (Walter W Skeat, Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1882) Gazebo: The name is an 18th-century joke word combining gaze with the Latin suffix ebo, meaning I shall. (Encyclopedia Britannica Online) On Suffixes and Word Formation Primary school children would be better at  spelling if they were taught about morphemes- the units of meaning that form words- researchers claim today...For instance, the word magician consists of two morphemes: the stem magic and the suffix ian....Children find the word difficult to spell because the third syllable sounds like shun. But if they knew it was made up of the two morphemes, they could make more sense of the way it is spelled, researchers suggest. (Anthea Lipsett, Spelling: Break Words Up Into Units of Meaning. The Guardian, Nov. 25, 2008) On the -ers Suffix Call it a vast linguistic conspiracy: proponents of the major conspiracy theo ­ries of the day- the truthers, the birthers, the deathers- share a suffix that makes them all sound like whackdoodles. It looks like conspiracy theorists might acquire a permanent suffix in -er, just like political scandals now have a permanent suffix in -gate, Victor Steinbok, a frequent contributor to the American Dialect Society’s online discussion board, observed recently in that forum...Today’s -er groups are not -ists; their beliefs are not -isms or -ologies, theories of social organization like communism or fields of study like sociology. Nor are they -ites, devout followers of a domineering visionary figure, like Trotskyites, Benthamites or Thatcherites. The -ers, the caricature asserts, are not sophisticated enough for that. That is perhaps why -er words, long before truther, have been used to deride political opponents, as in tree hugger, bra burner and evildoer- not to mention th e catch-alls for extremists, wingers and nutters (from wing nut). (Leslie Savan, From Simple Noun to Handy Partisan Put-Down. The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 18, 2009) [E]ven though writers write, bakers bake, hunters hunt, preachers preach, and teachers teach, grocers dont groce, butchers dont butch, carpenters dont carpent, milliners dont millin, haberdashers dont haberdash- and ushers dont ush. (Richard Lederer, Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word Magic. St. Martins Press, 2006) On American -or and British -our [T]he o(u)r suffix has quite a confused history. The  Online Etymology Dictionary reports that our  comes from old French while –or  is Latin. English has used both endings for several centuries. Indeed, the first three folios of Shakespeare’s plays reportedly used both spellings equally...But by the late 18th  and early 19th  centuries, both the US and the UK started to solidify their preferences, and did so differently...The US took a particularly strong stand thanks to Noah Webster, American lexicographer and co-namesake of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries...He preferred to use the –or  suffix and also suggested many other successful changes, such as reversing -re to create theater and center, rather than theatre and centre...Meanwhile in the UK, Samuel Johnson wrote  A Dictionary of the English Language  in 1755. Johnson was far more of a spelling purist than Webster, and decided that in cases where the origin of the word was unclear, it was m ore likely to have a French than Latin root...And so he preferred –our  to –or. (Olivia Goldhill, The Case of the Missing us in American English. Quartz, January 17, 2016) On the Problem With -ish Although there is no exact count, Merriam-Webster says there could be as many as one million-plus words in the English language...And yet, with all of those words at our disposal,...we seem to make a competitive sport out of creating brand new ones...[T]heres the suffix -ish, which is increasingly called-upon, fairly indiscriminately, to describe an approximation, or a likeness of something, when in most cases there is an existing word, or two, that would serve just as well: warmish, tired-ish, doing a good job-ish, Clinton-ish. Instead, -ish may be chosen for reasons of expediency, or cuteness. A sampling of some recent headlines from around the web include 5 Ways To Secure Your Happy-ish Ever After (The Huffington Post) because, as the author writes, Happily Ever After is not a thing and Ten(ish) Questions With...WR Jeremy Ross (ESPN) because there are, in fact, 16...-Ish...requires no cleverness whatsoever. Its lazy, non-committal, and confoundingly ambiguous, a symbol of a societ y ever more inclined to take the easy way out or blur the lines. (Peggy Drexler, The Problem With -ISH. The Huffington Post, January 9, 2014) On Some -Somes My favorite word: gigglesome....Familiar words like lonesome, handsome, and adventuresome are from a whole family of words that include some surprises that have fallen into disuse. I heard Red Barber one morning on the radio say the air was chillsome. Others are grievesome, toilsome, and boresome. My favorites of these old words are gigglesome and playsome, both usually applied to high-spirited children. (Bobbie Ann Mason, quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in Favorite Words of Famous People. Marion Street Press, 2011) On the Lighter Side of Suffixes Good things dont end in -eum; they end in -mania or -teria. (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons) Were good...at words, too: burgle, burglar, burglary. The Americans go about it differently: burglar, burglarize, burglarization. Maybe theyll move on, soon, and well have burglarizationeers who burglarizationize us, leaving us victims of burglarizationeerage. (Michael Bywater, The Chronicles of Bargepole. Jonathan Cape, 1992) Ive heard of many chocoholics, but I aint never seen no chocohol. We got an epidemic, people: people who like chocolate but dont understand word endings. Theyre probably over-workaholled. (Demetri Martin, 2007)

Critical analysis of Inescapably Me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical analysis of Inescapably Me - Essay Example The title of the poem is in sync with the context of the poem as it hints about the action that takes place in the poem i.e. his desire to find escape and solace either in the form of death or in this life by winning his beloved’s affection. The poem is depicted in free verse which means that it does not follow a definitive rhyme pattern and the words are not rhythmic in their flow yet the readers observe an inherent rhythm and flow of the poet’s thoughts. It can be perceived that the poet’s style of writing follows the phenomenon of stream of consciousness i.e. one thought triggers a completely different or new thought. For example he starts off from talking about a clerk in a coffin shop in Hong Kong, which reminds him of a death or loss he has recently suffered, ultimately reminding him of his beloved Ley and his deeply ingrained feelings of love and care for her. Chan’s style of writing or the diction of the poem is very simple yet deep in meaning. By using easy language he encapsulates essence of meaning projecting the importance of love in an individual’s life which has the power of either making an individual the luckiest man alive or the unluckiest one depending on that person’s circumstances and fate. 2.2. ... Furthermore this life is a test where success or failure has the same result however love acts as a potion to make life seem more beautiful and enjoyable. The reference to the â€Å"coffin shop† as well as the last line of the poem where he says, â€Å"before Quentin buys those lead weights like shoes and throws himself off a bridge† (lines 29-30) both depict death. In the former’s case writer reflects on death as a natural process where eventually every individual is going to die. However towards the end the later lines can be perceived as a threat or a desire to die in order to end Quentin’s suffering and pain because otherwise this life is a living hell for him, from which he is unable to escape as the title also hints upon this reality i.e. â€Å"Inescapably Me†. The poet makes use of a variety of colors which adds an element of beauty to the context of the poem. Some of the colors which he uses in the poem include yellow, orange, peach and the checkered floor†. The yellow color symbolizes deterioration or sterility. While orange and peach are the colors of hope and prosperity however death engulfs the individual before he could relish in the bliss of contentment and happiness. The reference to Black and White color can be interpreted as the poets understanding of this transitory life where life is an amalgamation of good and bad happiness and sorrows and as he says in the poem as well that, â€Å"the rice wine poured on to the black-and-white checkered floor. Someone will mop it up later† (line 18) eventually everything comes to an end. 2.3. Allusions Chan in his poem refers to two literary allusions that is â€Å"Le Ballon Rouge† (Line 25) and â€Å"Achilles Heel† (line 10). â€Å"Le Ballon Rouge† is an

Exam Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exam Paper - Essay Example semi-strong form of efficiency is a class of EMH which claims that all public information is calculated into a stock’s current price hence there is no way either fundamental or technical analysis is applicable to achieve superior gains. It claims only non-publicly available information can be used by investors to earn abnormal returns on their investments as all the other remaining information is accounted for in the prices of the stocks and no fundamental or technical analysis will result into above normal returns. Strong form efficiency is the strongest as the name suggests as it states all the information in a stock market irrespective of whether public or private. All such information is accounted for in the stock price and not even insider information could give an investor advantage hence profits exceeding normal returns cannot be made regardless of the amount of research or information available to the investors. If a company trades its shares in a stock market with a s emi-strong efficient market, the investors are likely to use the privately available information to make abnormal returns on their investment. Answer 2 The increase of the interest rates by the central bank results into loans from commercial banks being expensive as they also raise their interest rates to cover for the rise by the central bank. ... Therefore, one thing that has to happen is that the sales by Tintin will have to drastically reduce by a wide margin as the purchases of such goods by consumers will go down due to their escalated prices and a lack in their necessity. In addition, the long run is likely to see the bank adjusting their interest rates to accommodate the changes which results into an increase in the operation costs of Tintin due to increased rates of interest. The increased costs have an extended impact which translates into the reduced earnings of the firm, the economic situation at such times is volatile and the economic component which experiences this is the business people since they find it quite hard to balance between demand and supply. Answer 3 3. (a) There are a number of incomes which are not taxed or are not subjected to income tax. They include:- incomes realized by taxpayers to the extent of debts forgiven, payments from state sickness or disability funds, compensation received under the w orkers compensation act, interest earned from tax exempt municipal bonds, income from the sale of one’s primary residence whether it is sold on profit or at a loss. Others include:- incomes in form of life insurance money and non taxable gifts as a gift is exactly what it sounds like, fringe benefits from employers and child support funds as well as foster care payments. All these are not subject to income tax according to the law. 3. (b) Higher rate tax payers are subjected to a different tax rate brackets as compared to the lower rate tax payers. Therefore as the lower rate tax payers will be paying tax at 20%, the higher rate tax payers will pay the taxes at 40%. Therefore an investor who received a 90

The Autonomic Nervous System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Autonomic Nervous System - Essay Example Each pathway comprises of a preganglionic neurone as well as a postganglionic neurone. Within the sympathetic system, the synapses between these two neurons are located near the spinal cord. On the other hand within the parasympathetic nervous system, these two neurons are located near to, or within the effector organs (Tortora & Derrickson 2009). The effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems normally oppose each other. They are termed as antagonists, thus is one system contracts a muscle, the other usually relaxes it. The balance between the two systems concisely regulates the involuntary activities of the organs and glands. Exceptional to note is that it is feasible to control consciously specific activities of the autonomic nervous system through training. Some examples in this include control of the anal and bladder sphincters. With regard to nerve impulse transmission process, the sympathetic nervous system stimulates effectors and produces noradrenalin as t he neurotransmitter at nerve junctions. In contrast, the parasympathetic nervous system inhibits effectors and produces acetylcholine at the nerve junction, otherwise called the synapse (Tortora & Derrickson 2009). The autonomic nervous system comprises of motor neurons which innervate smooth and cardiac muscles as well as the glands. These neurons also ensure optimal environments conditions within the systems to ensure maximum support for body activities. The neurons operate via subconscious control and have viscera as most of their effectors. Within the autonomic nervous system, the preganglionic fibers release acetylcholine as the major neurotransmitter. Postganglionic fibers release norepinephrine or acetylcholine whose effects can either be stimulatory or inhibitory. The neurotransmitter effects within the autonomic nervous system on target organs are dependent on the neurotransmitter released. Additionally, such effects are dependent on the type of receptors expressed on the e ffector organs. The divisions of the autonomic nervous system serve similar visceral organs but cause opposite effects. These divisions exemplified by parasympathetic and sympathetic categories help in maintaining homeostasis. Precisely, the sympathetic division mobilizes the body during activity while the parasympathetic division conserves the energy within the body. The role of parasympathetic division is well illustrated when a person relaxes after taking a meal. In such a circumstance, the division plays a role of keeping the energy level consumption as low as possible. As such, the heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rates are kept at lower concentrations. However, during such circumstances, the gastrointestinal tract activity is high as a result of digestion. The skin is warm while the pupils are constricted. On the other hand, the sympathetic division is a good depiction of fight or flight system. This division allows the regulation of activities during exercises. In s uch scenarios, the system reduces the flow of blood to organs while it increases the flow of blood to muscles. Its activity is illustrated by an individual who is under a threat and as such, the heart rate increases with rapid and deep breathing. Additionally, the glucose levels in the blood are high because this important sugar is released from the liver. Furthermore, the skin is cold and sweaty while the pupils of the eyes are dilated due to alertness. Parasympathetic div

Tesco Rapidly Changing Environment Business Essay

Tesco Rapidly Changing Environment Business Essay Todays world is a rapidly changing place. Part of rapidly changing environment that managers face is the globalization of business. Management is no longer constrained by national borders. In order to function and to survive, organization has to interact constantly with the world outside. Developments across a range of factors will have an impact on your business or industry. Business environment is a set of political, economic, social and technological (PEST) forces that are largely outside the control and influence of a business and that can potentially have both a positive and a negative impact on the business. You need to understand how the external environment affects and influences the organization structure. In this situation for achieving high performance manager need to adapt an organization. In this report TESCOs business environment is describe here. Using SWOT and PESTLE analysis tool TESCOs business strategy clearly define. Introduction of TESCO Tesco was founded by Sir Jack Cohen in 1924. In 1919 Jack Cohen started to selling groceries in Londons markets. The Tea is the first product in which the brand name of Tesco appeared in 1920. So the name Tesco comes from the initials of TE Stockwell who was a partner in the firm of tea suppliers. The first store of Tesco was opened in 1929 in Burnt oak, Edgware. Today TESCO is one of the top three international retailers with 366,000 worldwide staff, more than 2500 stores in twelve countries which sales  £41.8 billion. The vision and philosophy of TESCO is that Every Little Helps is behind everything we do. The Corporate Social Responsibility policy objective is to earn the trust of customers by acting good services and good relation between customers and suppliers and by building goodwill. They doing this only for earn customers loyalty and it is core purpose of Tesco. Tesco has four types of store formats for instance, Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, Tesco superstore and Tesco Extra (24 hour) all of them provide different shopping experience but same outstanding value. Tesco sells both food and non-food items. The leading market position improves its brand image and it provides a platform to start private label brands. The items include food, CDs, Books, medicine, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, alcohol, clothes, toys and electrical goods. Tesco has an exciting brand name. It is related with the good quality, honest goods and services that characterize excellent value. A strong brand name and moreover the attractive customer preservation rates are helps the group to introduce more products under its own labels and allocate it to enter new markets. Tesco.com is one of the leading online grocery shopping services in the world and the fourth biggest online retailer in the UK. Amazon, Dell and Argos are placed in the first three positions. Tesco.com serves m ore than one million regular customers in the UK including households from both urban and rural areas. The group has developed tesco.com-only store, an online service, for the customer in the UK with limited accessibility to physical stores. Tesco operates three types of operations: The First one is UK operations; it is categorized by five formats which are different from size, location and products. The largest operation of UK is in new cast. In addition to food, it also operates in the non food fragment items including clothing, electrical goods, home entertainment, stationery, kitchen items and furnitures. The Second operation is outside UK. The other British retailers who tried to expand international business have failed but Tesco has been succeeding to build an international business. It started this operation in 2004. The Third one is Internet operations. In 1994 Tesco also started to operate internet and it is the first retailer in the world who offered home shopping service since 1996. It expanded online ranges as books, wine, movies and electrical goods. From the above information it is clear that although the performance of TESCO has been affected in some areas but it has still value in the market due to reput ation and name of TESCO in the market. However TESCO achieved its target in food sector. TESCO ltd has been survived through competition over the last four years in the market but still it is one of the largest retailer companies in the UK. SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps managers to focus on key issues. SWOT means Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and Threats are external factors. Strengths In global market place TESCO have secured commercial standing because of winning World Retail Awards in Year 2008. This can be used for marketing campaigns to drive advantage towards the demographic base for future growth and sustainability. In an environment where global retail sales are showing decline TESCO Group has published sales gain of 13% for UK markets and 26% growth in international markets. Tesco.com is the worlds biggest online supermarket. Tesco online now operates in over 270 stores around the country, covering 96% of the UK. With over a million households nationwide having used the companys online services, the company has a strong platform to further develop this revenue stream. Profits for Tescos operations in Europe, Asia and Ireland increased by 78% during the last fiscal year. The company has a strong brand image, and is associated with good quality, trustworthy goods that represent excellent value. Since acquiring number one ranking in 1996, Tesco has developed a successful multi format strategy that has accelerated its advantage. Its UK sales are now 71% larger than Sainsburys. Weaknesses: TESCOs position as a price leader in UK markets can lead to reduced profit margins in order to retain the key price points on must have commercial items. TESCO Finance profit levels were impacted through credit card arrears, bad debt and household insurance claims. One of Tescos weaknesses has been its failure to dominate the city centre marketplace. Although it has some prominent city centre stores, e.g. the Carlisle store in the North of England, it has failed to make them universal. Grocer outlets are not set up to operate as specialist retailers in specific areas of product which can be capitalized on by other smaller bespoke retailers. Opportunities: Statistics suggest TESCO is the third largest global grocer which indicates a level of buying power to ensure mainstream economies of scale. The acquisition of whoever provides the opportunity to develop the brand through Asia, specifically South Korea and further grow International markets for the group. The development of Tesco Direct through online and catalogue shopping will grow the use of technology. Providing non food based products with moderate to high margin returns and less focus on sales and margin per foot return to space. TESCO mobile have grown 0.25 million customers in 2008 and moved into profitable status suggesting further growth and development within this technological area can be developed. Threats: Food and non food items raw material cost is rising, will impact profit margins overall. In far East locations exporting restrictions on some non food product areas will reduce margin rates on products with already low margins. American and UK markets have been affected by economic concerns through the credit crunch. Lower available income will impact and strategic focus may need to change to lower priced basic products with less focus on higher priced brands suggesting a switch in price architecture. For TESCO, there is a persistent threat of takeover from the market leader Wal-Mart who has both means and motive to pursue such action. PESTLE analysis: In analyzing the macro-environment, it is important to identify the factors that might in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and its costs (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991; Johnson and Scholes, 1993). Because of ongoing changes that impact the whole organization. PESTLE analysis categorizes environmental influences as Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal forces. The analysis examines the impact of each of these factors (and their interplay with each other) on the business. Using these results take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats when preparing Business and Strategic plans. Political Factors: Tesco now operates in six countries in Europe in addition to the UK. Tescos performance is highly influenced by the political and legislative conditions of these countries, including the European Union (EU). For employment legislations, the government encourages retailers to provide a mix of job opportunities from flexible, lower-paid and locally-based jobs to highly-skilled, higher-paid and centrally-located jobs (Balchin, 1994). Also to meet the demand from population categories such as students, working parents and senior citizens. Tesco understands that retailing has a great impact on jobs and people factors, being an inherently local and labour-intensive sector. Tesco employs large numbers of student, disabled and elderly workers, often paying them lower rates. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, these workers offer a higher level of loyalty and therefore represent desirable employees. Economical Factors: Economic factors are of concern to Tesco, because they are likely to influence demand, costs, prices and profits. One of the most influential factors on the economy is high unemployment levels, which decreases the effective demand for many goods, adversely affecting the demand required to produce such goods. These economic factors are largely outside the control of the company, but their effects on performance and the marketing mix can be profound. Although international business is still growing and is expected to contribute greater amounts to Tescos profits over the next few years, the company is still highly dependent on the UK market. Hence, Tesco would be badly affected by any slowdown in the UK food market and are exposed to market concentration risks. Social Factors: Current trends indicate that British customers have moved towards one-stop and bulk shopping, which is due to a variety of social changes. Tesco have, therefore, increased the amount of non-food items available for sale. UK retailers are also focusing on added-value products and services. In addition, the focus is now towards; the supply chain, the own-label share of the business mix and other operational improvements, which can drive costs out of the business. National retailers are increasingly reticent to take on new suppliers (Clarke, Bennison and Guy,1994; Datamonitor Report, 2003). The type of goods and services demanded by consumers is a function of their social conditioning. Consumers are becoming more and more aware of health issues, and their attitudes towards food are constantly changing. One example of Tesco adapting its product mix is to accommodate an increased demand for organic products. The company was also the first to allow customers to pay in cheques and cash at the checkout. Technological Factors: Technology is a major macro-environmental variable which has influenced the development of many of the Tesco products. The new technologies benefit both customers and the company: customer satisfaction rises because goods are readily available, services can become more personalized and shopping more convenient. Tesco stores utilize the following technologies: Wireless devices Intelligent scale Electronic shelf labeling Self check-out machine Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The adoption of Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS), Electronic Funds Transfer Systems (EFTPoS) and electronic scanners have greatly improved the efficiency of distribution and stocking activities, with needs being communicated almost in real time to the supplier (Finch, 2004). Environmental Factors: In 2003, there has been increased pressure on many companies and managers to acknowledge their responsibility to society, and act in a way which benefits society overall (Lindgreen and Hingley, 2003). The major societal issue threatening food retailers has been environmental issues, a key area for companies to act in a socially responsible way. Hence, by recognizing this trend within the broad ethical stance. Tescos corporate social responsibility is concerned with the ways in which an organization exceeds the minimum obligations to stakeholders specified through regulation and corporate governance. (Johnson and Scholes, 2003) Graiser and Scott (2004) state that in 2003 the government has intended to launch a new strategy for sustainable consumption and production to cut waste, reduce consumption of resources and minimize environmental damage. The latest legislation created a new tax on advertising highly processed and fatty foods. The so-called fat tax directly affected the Tesco product ranges that have subsequently been adapted, affecting relationships with both suppliers and customers. Legal Factors: Various government policies and legislations have a direct impact on the performance of Tesco. For instance, the Food Retailing Commission (FRC) suggested an enforceable Code of Practice should be set up banning many of the current practices, such as demanding payments from suppliers and changing agreed prices retrospectively or without notice (Mintel Report, 2004). The presence of powerful competitors with established brands creates a threat of intense price wars and strong requirements for product differentiation. The governments policies for monopoly controls and reduction of buyers power can limit entry to this sector with such controls as license requirements and limits on access to raw materials (Mintel Report, 2004; Myers, 2004). In order to implement politically correct pricing policies, Tesco offers consumers a price reduction on fuel purchases based on the amount spent on groceries at its stores. While prices are lowered on promoted goods, prices elsewhere in the store are raised to compensate. Organizational Business Strategy: To produce great business performance it is necessary to turn strategies and plan into individual actions but it is not easy. Many companies repeatedly fail to truly motivate their people to work with enthusiasm, all together towards the corporate aim. Most companies and organizations know their businesses and strategies required for success. However many corporations especially large ones struggle to translate the theory into action plans that will enable the strategy to be successfully implemented and sustained. Formalization: Formalization is the extent to which rules and procedures are followed in an organization. This element varies across organizations. For example in some organization arrival and departure times to and from work are specified. In other organizations employees will spend sufficient time on the job to get the work done. In some organizations many rules are codified in huge manuals but no one pays attention to them. In others little is written down but rules are informally understood and followed. The most useful definition of formalization is that it represents the use of rules in an organization. The degree to which rules are followed not the degree to which they are codified. In Tesco shift type working system is there. Time punctuation is most important in Tesco. Each and every staff wears particular uniform. Specialization: Work specializations to describe the degree to which activities in the organization are subdivided into separate jobs. The essence of work specialization is that rather than an entire job being done by one individual it is broken down into a number of steps with each step being completed by a separate individual. In essence individuals specialize in doing part of an activity rather to the entire activity. In Tesco according to different positions different roles are there like general manager, purchasing manager, technical manager, finance manager, HR manager, customer service assistance etc. Hierarchy: In a hierarchical organization employees are ranked at various levels within the organization, each level is one above the other. At each stage in the chain, one person has a number of workers directly under them, within their span of control. The chain of command is a typical pyramid shape. A tall hierarchical organisation has many levels and a flat hierarchical organisation will only have a few. Tesco has a flat hierarchical structure with just six levels between checkout staff and chief executive. Each store manager is responsible for their store. External Environment: In retail Tesco is top of supermarket in UK. There are many competitors like Asda, Sainsbury. In current market position Tescos share is more than other retail company. Every year growth of Tesco is increase. In market position Tesco is stable. Culture: Tesco is now in international market. In Tesco many different culture people are working together not any obligation for culture and peoples value is same. In Tesco clear norms and value are there. Professionalism: Training is most important for every company. In some companies training is given by professional way while in small companies training is formal. Tesco gives high professional training. Goals and Strategy: Top management is to determine an organizations goals, strategy and design. Organizations mission is the official goal whereas in organization actually pursues, specific outcomes like resources, overall performance, market, employ development, innovation, productivity are operative goals. Strategy means plan for achieving organizational goals in competitive environment. Goals define where the organization wants to go, strategy how it will get there. Tescos main goal is to create value for customer to earn their lifetime loyalty. For achieving this goal Tesco do something new for customer. Tesco will remove plastic and paper bags. Size: Size of company is determined by number of stores it has and number of employees it has. It is also determined by revenue of company. It had revenue of 47.3 billion pounds for the year 2008. This made Tesco the fourth largest retailer of the world. Tesco is operating as 2318 stores and more than 326000 employees. Conclusion:

How Technology Has Hurt Us :: essays research papers

How Technology Has Hurt Us   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although many inventions have helped us and made our lives easier they have also caused some problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the invention of the car came problems such as air pollution. Cities are becoming more and more congested with people using their cars even for short distances. The government is trying to make this better by making cars pass an emmission control test. Another problem with cars is that hundreds of people die or get seriously injured each year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another technical invention that maybe we would have been better without is weapons. Although weapons were made to protect our country and keep freedom it seems to have done the opposite. Drive by shootings are a daily occurence in our big cities. More people are turning the guns on themselves. Kids bring guns to school with them for protection against people who may use a gun on them for retaliation. Politically its divided the nation on whether private citizens should be able to carry guns.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Disposable items have caused a big garbage problem. We use everything from disposable pens to disposable diapers. We can stop some of the garbage problem by recycling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Air conditioners are using up allot of our electricity. There are times in the summer when brown outs happen because if our excessive use of the air conditioners. Freon gets released into our environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today people are being kept alive longer and longer. People that have no chance of recovery are being kept alive on ventilators. This causes a great expense to society and an emotional stress on the family. Even though older people may beg to let them die medicine refuses to let them. This is slowly changing with living wills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though we love to watch TV it has also caused problems.